Lacing for shoes and other articles



Dec. 24, 1929. H. GROSSER LACING FOR SHOES AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed Aug. 15. 1928 .Zhvenlor: fl ans Grosser,

Patented Dec. 24, 1925 UNITE YATES ATENT FFICE HANS GROSSEB, OF BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, ASSIG-NOR TO GUILLERMO E. ALVAB-ADO, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LACING FOR SHOES AND OTHER ARTICLES Application filed August 15, 1928.

This invention relates to lacings which may be applied to low shoes, corsets or other articles; and the object of the invention is to pro, duce a lacing with special anchor members for securing both ends thereof in the article to be laced, such as a shoe, thus obtaining a permanent lacing.

A further object of this invention is to produce an elastic lacing of uncovered rubber 19 with an anchor on each end, which anchors can be secured to the lacing after same has been drawn through the different eyelets of a shoe or other article.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists of certain novel features of construction of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspectiveview showing a low shoe with my improved rubber lacing as applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the anchor as applied, one to each end of the lacing.

Figure 3 is a perspective side view sh0w ing both ends of the rubber lacing; the lower end with its anchor previously attached to it, and the upper end with its tip, which is to be cut oil after having passed it through the second anchor; and

Figure 4c is an illustration showing the manner of applying the second anchor to a shoe lace after the shoe lace has been drawn through the upper eyelet.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it will be seen that there is provided a shoe lacing 10 of a solid rubber element, uncovered, and either of a square, rectangular or round cross-section. At one end of the lacing there is a tip 11 of any usual form to facilitate the passing of the lacing through the eyelets, but which is to be cut off as soon as that end of the lacing is passed through the last upper eyelet of the shoe and has been fastened by the anchor device 12.

Of this fastening or anchoring device 12 there are two for each lacing. One of them is put onto one end of the lacing of rubber before inserting it into the shoe, and the second after having drawn the lacing through the last upper eyelet. In order to fasten the Serial No. 289,6?8.

anchor 12 the rubber lacing will be stretched out so as to decrease its thickness and permit the anchor to be attached to it, by passing the stretched part of the rubber lacing through the open slit 18 until it reaches the small hole or enlargement of the slit at the center of the anchor (14) which is for the purpose of preventing the lacing from working out through the slit, after which the rubber lacing is released and when the tension is removed it will at once reassume its normal thickness or crosssection, on both sides of the anchor or fastening device 12, which will thus be retained firmly in its place.

The anchor or fastener 12 may be made of any suitable shape or material, although I prefer the disc form and a material of a medium hardness such as celluloid, vulcanite or the like. It should be as thin as possible in order not to protrude from the inner surface 7 of the shoe or other article of clothing, etc., on which it may be used.

in applying the lacing to a shoe or other member to be laced, the tipped end 11 of the lacing 10 is drawn from the inner side out- 75 wardly through the eyelet 16 in the shoe or the like, thus leaving one of the two fastening devices 12 on the under or inner side of the eyelet. The rubber lacing 10 is then passed over to the adjacent eyelet, and so on until the last, in the usual manner when using a single strand lacing. After the tipped end 11 has been drawn inwardly through the last upper eyelet, the rubber lacing is stretched out and the second fastening device 12 is s slipped on, after which the rubber is again loosened and the surplus part of the lacing (l?) is cut of? up to about 1/16 inch. The la is thus permanently secured.

in the foregoing it will be seen that a low shoe or other article to be laced can be put on and'tahen oil as many times as requi without unlacing said shoe or article, which means a great saving of time and trouble. The all-rubber lacing furthermore has or a very much greater resistance than any web covered lacing. The two fastening devices which secure the rubber lacing permanently avoid the there and back lacing which is necessary with any single fastening device. 100

In short, my invention means a saving of time and trouble, because it is a permanent lacing, comfortable because of its elastic nature, durable because of the possibility of employing an all rubber uncovered lacing, and its appearance Will be very neat, since the rubber may be dyed to match the shoe or other article to which it is to be applied.

It is understood that although I have illustrated and described my invention with rela-' tion to a shoe, it is not restricted to that application. It is also understood that variations of detail are permissible in practice, such as, for example, it may be found in practice that the central hole in the disc or other fastener is not necessary to hold the lacing from escaping laterally, or that a very slight enlargement at the centralend of the radial slit may be sufficient for that purpose. These and other modifications of detail may be resorted to, Without thereby departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim. I

Having thus described my invention, What I claim and desire to. secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, is:

In combination, a' fiat disc having a central opening therein and a radial slot extend ing from said central opening to the outer periphery of the disc, and an elastic lacing passingthrough said central opening, said central opening being of smaller cross-sectional area than that of the elastic lacing When said lacing is unstretched and of greater cross-sectional area than that of the lacing ivhen the lacing is stretched, the faces of the disc being substantially at right angles to the lacing. e V .o Signed at Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic, this 10th day of July, A. D. 1927;

HANS GROSSER. 

